Lab Rats
by Sin Of Tragedy
Summary: Envy and Edward awake to find themselves locked in a jail-cell like place run by an evil woman and her scientists. Will they escape alive? Will the scientists experiment on them to their death...? Even more so, will they keep their sanity?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own FMA.

**A/N**: Ah, I'm back XD  
October was a busy month for me. I had: my birthday, a hair cut, a giant sleepover, the town fair, looking for jobs, homecoming, Halloween, Halloween party, and many more things. Which left no room for updating my stories...  
Anyhow, this is my NaNoWriMo, but not really, since it can't be published, but at least I can put it on here. I might just abandon this. It all just depends on if anyone likes it or not.  
For my readers: thanks for still reading my stories! It really means a lot, and I will try to update each story sometime this month. K, luv ya buh bye! -giggles-

(Yeah, it's short....Like Ed XP)

* * *

Graceful yet quick feet padded the ground softly as Envy ran. Long green hair tangled in the wind behind him as the figure followed close behind. He looked back, but did not slow down. He frowned, both annoyed and frightened - though he wouldn't admit the later.

He took a sudden left, into an abandoned alleyway. '_Who is this person?_' he questioned as he focused ahead. Envy was not known to be a fighter, - a pacifist, he went as - but when the time needed, he would not back down. However, this...thing was different from anything he had went against in the past. '_More like _what_._'

And for some odd reason, it would not stop chasing him.

With a growl, he turned around sharply. What he had hoped to do was come face to face with whatever had been chasing him, but when he had looked, the creature was no longer there. Thinking fast, he turned around, only to find more empty space. His mood had faded from annoyed and afraid, to confused and frustrated.

"Where the fuc-"

Before Envy had the chance to continue his sentence, something landed behind him. The next thing he knew, he was hit in the back of the head, hard enough to knock him out for a few hours.

The creature smirked triumphantly, showing its two rows are razor sharp teeth as it stared down at the homunculus on the floor. With out another thought, the giant form crouched down and picked Envy up bridal style. Seconds later, it was gone.

------------

Envy awoke hours later; though he could not tell what time it was exactly. Although his eyes were wide open, he could not see anything. Where ever he was, was pitch black. Silently, he attempted to pushed himself up.

Only to find that his arms were tied behind his back.

'_Oh joy,_' Envy thought bitterly, gritting his teeth together at the darkness before him. '_Seems like I've found myself a pervert._'

The Sin figured that he was in some kind of basement. There were no windows, and water dripped somewhere close by; their drip keeping track of the seconds which crawled by slowly. The floor beneath him was cold and hard, and he would not be surprised if he felt bugs crawling on him soon.

Determined as he was, he tried to move. His attempt failed as he felt a sharp pain in his left thigh, as well as his upper back. The homunculus growled in fury. Who ever had put him here, knew about the homunculi's weakness.

The feeling of being tied up left Envy with the feeling of being vulnerable. With his nodes and oruoboros stabbed through, he could neither move or speak. It would be a while before the nodes could pushed whatever was in them out. For now, he was useless, and all he could do was wait.

The Sin was _not_ happy.

Minutes dragged into hours, and Envy continued to sit there, violet eyes starring blankly into the darkness. He was now able to talk, but not much else. Though, without anyone to throw sarcastic comments at, speaking was basically useless. And he was _not_ going to start talking to himself.

His attention was drawn to the far end of the room. There were two sets of footsteps heading his way. One pair were heavy, while the other was light and made clicks with each step. Both of their owners seemed to take their time getting over to where he was.

Suddenly, a light was turned on, instantly blinding the homunculus who had been in the dark for days. Envy closed his eyes tightly, and let out a low hiss.

The person who had turned it on snickered, clearly wearing a smirk. "I see you're up, my pretty." The voice belonged to a woman, Envy could tell.

"Screw you!"

Her frown quickly faded, but the Sin could still not see her face. She turned to look behind her, and waved a hand in the direction of the empty jail cell next to Envy. "Throw the other one in there," she ordered calmly.

There was an affirmative nod from the large man next to her, and he stomped over to the cell. Without much care, he threw the unconscious body into it. The homunculus did not wince as he heard the body tumble to a stop on the cold floor. Although, the odd sound of metal on concrete was somehow familiar, he ignored the other presence; his vision was slowly returning, and he ached to get a glimpse of his kidnappers.

"Well," the woman spoke up with a light sigh, "I believe this is all, for now. Until next time, my dearest." She gave a small chuckle as she turned around and headed back up the stairs. The large man followed closely behind, and Envy found himself being reminded of his siblings.

Wonderful.

He was so lonely, he was thinking of Lust and Gluttony. "Shoot me now..," he mumbled, and instantly regretted it. Great! Now he was talking to himself, when only minutes ago, he promised he wouldn't.

Envy let out a half-hearted laugh.

His laugh, along with the light that had been left one, had stirred awake the figure before him, and he looked over with little interests. That is, until he heard the groan of a short alchemist. His perfect lips grew into a smirk."O'Chibi-san, is that you?"

His voice was raspier from the lack of use, but Edward was able to put two and two together easily. Gold eyes shot open quickly, and a wince escaped as he pushed himself up. "Envy?" he asked, not sure of himself - after all, he was knocked out for some time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own FMA...At all.

**A/N:** Wow o.o I'm surprised I got so many reviews so fast...  
I thank everyone who reviewed, and as you wished, I updated -giggles-  
Enjoy!

(P.S.: Yes. Yes you are short, Edo/Riza.)

* * *

**Lab Rats**

**Chapter Two**

Ed didn't wait for a response. He glanced around the room slowly, noticing that only in their cells was light. After a few minutes of what seemed like thinking, he turned back to Envy. "Where are we?"

"Why the hell do you think I would know?" the Sin deadpanned. "I am in the same predicament as you, Pipsqueak, as you can see." He moved to the best of his ability, showing him that he was also tied up.

"WHOAREYOUCALLINGSOSHORTTHATTHEYCOULDHIDEUNDERTHETINYDUSTFLOATINGINTHEAIR?!?!"

There was a long silence that followed Edward's rant, not to mention an echo that lasted just as long. Finally, Envy grinned. "You."

The alchemist growled, but then let out a sigh. "We shouldn't be arguing-"

"-This is arguing?-"

"-We should be finding a way to get out of here..." he continued, ignoring the Sin's input. Ed mumbled to himself as he tried to untie his arms. The process didn't last long, he had experience of undoing rope even prior to his acceptence into the military. It didn't take long for him to break free from the bound, without the use of Alchemy.

He grinned his trademark grin as he rubbed his human wrist gently. The binding had left small indents. "I'm surprised they let me keep my automail..."

"...Are you talking to yourself, Pipsqueak?"

"..." Edward ignored Envy's question, and walked over to the bars of his cell. "Now...To get out of here..."

"...They say it's a first sign of insanity, you know..."

"Or really?" the other asked, glaring at the Sin out of the corners of his eyes. "Well, I don't see you adding any useful information anytime soon."

Envy shruged lightly, whincing slightly as he did so. '_Damn nodes..._' he thought regretfully. "I thought it would be funnier to watch you fail."

Edward raised an eyebrow, and turned to him. "What do you mean...?"

"It's pointless," the other mumbled, closing his eyes. "They know our weaknesses. Both mine, and yours."

Now that caught the alchemist's attention. "I thought homunculi didn't have _weaknesses_." It was true, they were very good at hiding them. However, Sloth was not that hard to kill. He had used his mother's ashes, and turned her into ethanal. But this Sin was over 400 years old, and the chances of finding his remains were close to none...

'_They must have another weakness..._' he thought. Golden eyes then examined Envy. The dim light had made the Sin's skin a sickish yellow, but he pasted that off as nothing. His gaze went lower until it reached his thigh. Ed's eyes widened in shock.

"Like what you see?" the homunculus sneered. He glared at the human for a moment, then looked away, ashamed at himself for letting out one of their biggest secrets.

"Y-Your...Your oruoboros!" Edward whispered, a bit surprised by the thick needle burried in it. It wasn't too deep, from what he could see, and it also looked like it was slowly edging out of his skin on it's own. "So...You can't shape shift?"

"No, I can't, dip shit," the Sin growled. For a prodogy, the kid lacked common sense. "I can barely move! And I _hate _it because it makes me feel like such a damn _weakling_!"

Edward chose to stay silent. Truthfully, he could say so many things to insult Envy, just as the homunculus had done to him countless times, but he figured it would be best to be the more mature captive. He turned his attention back to the bars before him, and gasps two with his hands. "You said they know both our weaknesses."

Violet eyes met with gold.

"But I still have my automail."

"You have other weaknesses other than your hunks of metal," Envy mumbled, and closed his eyes, cuting off their connection. He was quiet for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, he said, "Try using alchemy on the bars."

Ed raised an eyebrow curiously, but did as he was told without any questions. He clapped his hands together just as always, and then put them against the bars. Immediately, he jumped back, holding his human arm and panting lightly. To his right was a snickering noise, and he glared at the laughing homunculus.

"What a _shocking_ discovery!" Envy giggled, and sighed contently as one of the spikes fell out of one of his back nodes.

Edward growled, and thought the Sin was quite lucky that there were bars between them. "You _knew_ that the bars were going to shock me if I used my alchemy, didn't you!?"

"Ah...No," the other confessed, "I didn't. But I did know it was going to be entertaining to watch you fail."

The alchemist took a look at his human arm. It was scratched here and there, and at some parts bleeding a little. He only had one small burn on two fingers. There was no doubt that he had some burns around where his automail connected with his shoulder, but he would have to check there later.

"Got any more smart ideas?"

"Stilts will help you appear taller?"

"...."

"Heh, lighten up, Pipsqueak." Envy thought for a moment, but his concentration was broken when his ears picked up the same pair of high heeled shoes from before. His smirk fell to a frown and violet eyes narrowed.

"Envy?" Ed asked, feeling a bit left out. Human senses were nothing compared to those of a homunculus'.

"She's back."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters in this story. Nor do I own FMA.

**A/N**: Sorry for such a long brake before an update. I have no excuse other than my lazyness.

Greta is a real FMA character. She is in the FMA video game: "Fullmetal Alchemist: And the Broken Angel". Funny thing is, Wendy Powell (who voices Envy), also voices her XD

Any Twilight fans out there? I'm going to see the movie this Sunday X3. I ish soooo excited. And I might actually do a Twilight fanfic!

This was only Half-Beta'ed by Sin Of Regret. She didn't beta from Envy's thoughts and down.

This will be Edvy, eventually. I know how, but it might take a few more chapters.

Lastly, I've decided that this will not be my NaNoWriMo because there's no way I'd ever write something 50,000 words long.

_Review please!_

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Edward could hear the sound of her heels before he heard her voice. "Did you really miss me that much, Envy?" she asked, coming into both of their view as she got closer.

For the first time, both of them could see her clearly. She had a woman's suit on that was a creamy orange; over that was a laboratory jacket. She had black hair that was in a messy bun, but it was too long for the style of choice. A strand of hair fell down to her lower back from the bun. Similar in color, her dark eyes were hidden behind intelligent-looking glasses.

"You wish," Envy growled, glaring at the woman.

The scientist frowned and her eyes narrowed. Her attention turned to Edward, and her eyes widened slightly, almost as if she were just noticing him. "You are up earlier than we had expected, Mr. Elric," she pointed out, and wrote something down on the paper attached to the white clipboard she held.

"Who's this 'we', and what do you want with me?"

She stopped writing and looked over at him. "Ah, that is what I came down here for. My name is Greta, I apologize for not introducing myself earlier." She paused to fix her glasses. "We have been watching you for a while, Edward."

"That's not creepy or anything."

Greta glanced at Envy silently, her eyes once again narrowed. The Sin was starting to get on her nerves. "Do you wish to say add something, Envy?"

"Oh no, no. Don't mind me, Miss. Creeper." The homunculus grinned wickedly at her as she wrote something down once again.

Silence devoured the three of them as she continued jotting down what Edward figured were notes. Suddenly, he remembered his past events prior to being knocked unconscious. His sharp intake of breath drew the attention of the other two bodies. "Al!" he gasped, and ran up to the bars in front of the woman. "Where's Al?!"

"Who gives a shit about that sunshine-shitti-"

"-Your brother is fine," Greta interrupted Envy, and fixed her glasses. "For now, at least."

Wide golden eyes narrowed to a glare, and Ed felt his teeth clench together. "Don't you dare touch my-"

"-forbidden lover-"

"-little brother!" He turned to Envy, and took a hold of the metal that separated them. "And what the fuck is your problem!?"

Greta looked between the two from where she stood outside their cells.

The Sin shrugged to the best of his ability, and was relieved when another spike fell out of the second node in his back. _'Two more to go, and I will be free to move_.'

Violet eyes met with Edward's gold, and he smirked. "Well, lets see..," he mumbled, tilting his head to the side a bit. Envy's dark hair fell with the tilt, and spread around on the cold floor. Though, his gaze never left the others. "I'm stuck in a cell that's next to that Bastard's son, I think that gives me a good reason enough to talk shit about you."

Ed growled and opened his mouth to say something, but was interupted by his stomach growling. Giggling could be heard, and he turned to Greta. She was laughing quietly to herself, trying to cover it by holding her free hand over her mouth. "Something funny?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The woman smiled and shook her head. She then lifted a hand into the air and snapped her fingers together. No later, the large man from before appeared out of the shadows with a tray of food. Silently, he placed it through a slot at the side of Edward's cell.

Confused, the teen stood there until Greta waved a hand in its direction. It was soup, chicken to be exact. Next to it, was a plate with buttered crackers. Ed was suspicions. Never had he heard of captives being served this great. "...is it edible?"

"Would you rather have something that's not?" She questioned with a slight laugh. "Do eat it, though. I will be leaving now, try not to kill each other while I'm away. It would be such a pity to have two perfects specimens go to waste."

Greta smiled at the both of them once more, she turned to leave.

Edward suddenly remembered what she had mentioned earlier, and ran over to the bars. "Wait!" he cried out. "You said Al is 'safe, for now'. What did you mean by that!? If you lay a single hand on him I swear to G-"

"The safety of your brother depends on your cooperation," she said quietly, and turned to face her. Her glasses caught the light, leaving a glare on them, covering her dark eyes from sight.

Ed's grip on the bars loosened. "...Cooperation?"

"Yes," she continued to walk away. "Do as we want, and your brother will not be dragged into this." The click of her heels faded away as she climbed up the stairs on the other side of the room.

The golden haired teen stared at the direction she had left for a while. Finally, he sighed and pulled away. Without a word, he walked over to his tray of food and started to play with it. The soup was surprisingly hot still, but the crackers were getting soggy with butter. "Ugh..."

His gaze wondered over to Envy, and he noticed the Sin staring at him.

"Why didn't you get any food?"

"Homunculi don't need eat like pathetic humans do," the other mumbled. "We don't get hungry."

Edward stared a moment longer before giving a small shrug. "Suit yourself."

From his spot, Envy continued to watch him. "...If you don't want it...I have something thick and juicy for you to su-" However, the Sin was cut off by a bowl of rather hot soup. It left small burns on his face, ones that would not heal for a while thanks to his predicament. "Oh, fuck you, Elric," he growled, wiping the soup remains on his shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do not own FMA, but I do own this story

**A/N**: None of this was checked by my beta because she took to long and I have no patience. So if there are mistakes - which I'm sure there are many - I am sorry DX

Happy Twilight Day!

* * *

Edward ignored the Sin's angry remark and walked over to the bed in the far back of his cell.

It was barely enough to be called a bed. The mattress was so thin, he figured that it was only stuffed with hard straw. It felt like it, too, as he went to lie down on it. It made a crunchy sound, and the fact that there was no cover on it made it have this disgusting feeling. Who knows what was last laying on this pathetic attempt at comfortable sleeping furniture. There was no pillow, either, so he used his flesh arm as one, along with the light coat he still had on.

'_It would have to do, for now_,' Ed thought with a silent sigh. Later, when someone - maybe Greta or one of her henchmen - came back to check on them, he would ask for a pillow. Not wanting to sleep facing Envy, he shifted his position so that he was facing the blank, stone wall.

"Tired already, pipsqueak?" Envy asked. He received no reply, not that he expected one.

Suddenly, their source of light started to dim, and the homunculus stared up at the bulb with blank, bored eyes. Edward's breathing had slowed, he noted with his keen senses, signaling that the human had fallen asleep rather quickly. Although, even though he did not need sleep - for homunculi did not get tired, Envy wanted to. Without the Elric boy up to argue with, he had nothing to do until the teen awoke.

The green haired immortal sighed and tilted his head up to face the ceiling. He took his time alone to take in his surroundings. There were only a few sounds that he could recognize: Edward's light breathing, - and the occasional mumble of sleep-talking - the dripping noise from earlier, and the faint squishing sound of the stakes left in his body being pushed out.

But there was some other sounds he could hear, but did not know what they were from, or who was making them.

One of the noises was of something dragging a heavy, medium sized object. At first, he thought it was a dead body being disposed of. With all the murdering he had done in this 400 plus years, the sound had grown familiar. Though, with his inhuman strength, he could easily lift ten dead bodies; it was just that he got lazy sometimes.

The other noise was of someone - or _something_, knowing this place - breathing deeply. The sound was not close to where Edward and Envy were kept, but near enough for his inhuman ears to pick it up. Every so often, whatever was taking the deep breaths was also whimpering. There was also scratching, but that came from another direction.

The walls of his and Edward's cells were a crimson color, and damp with sweat from the humid tempertures where they were kept. The floor was a dusty gray, with white spots here and there where he quessed there was blood - or some kind of foreign liquid - had been spilled in the past, and stained the material the cold floor was made up of.

The bars that both kept them in, and separated them, were a rusty red color. Envy couldn't tell how old they were, but the light coating of paint - which originally was a faded gray - was worn down and peeling off. He remembered seeing the paint flake off earlier when Edward had placed gripped the steel bars.

Envy's bed was no different from the one Ed slept on, and it no doubt felt the same. There was a small hole in the left back corner of both of their cells that - judging from the smell - was the crap hole. Other than those two items, there was nothing else in their containment centers.

None of which were of any importance or interests to the Sin, and he chose to ignore them for the time being. The only thing he could do until Fullmetal had awaken, was plan how he was going to escape.

His 'siblings' was one choice.

By know, they would have figured out that he had gone missing. Though, this wasn't the first time Envy had left his siblings without telling them. He was known to just wonder off, leaving for days or just a few hours. But even then, he would leave a note, or at least tell Lust or Dante. His gaze dropped to the hard floor below him.

Would the even care if he disappeared?

Wrath would most likely only care that Envy is gone because he wouldn't get pushed around, teased, or beaten up by the eldest sin. Gluttony only cared about when he is allowed to gorge himself, or where Lust is. Pride and Sloth were too busy fooling the military to do anything about his situation. Greed - though Envy would greatly prefer if Greed did not rescue him - had rebelled years ago, and no one had heard from him since, nor would he even care about the green haired teen.

Lust would be the only one to want to - and possibly make action to - save him. She had always been the more caring homunculus, though not at first. The need to become human again had softened the beautiful woman, which would eventually get her into trouble. However, she could possibly get their other siblings to help.

They would ask Dante for help. Even though the immortal woman was his real mother, he doubted that she would even care. She would explain to the Sins that this is what Envy needed, that it would teach him a lession. Lust wouldn't be too happy with her answer, and would find a way - with or without the help of their siblings - to save him. Dante - knowing the busty Sin all too well - would find a way to keep her preoccupied with missions, or anything that would keep her from finding the eldest homunculus.

Even without doing the math, the chances of any of the homunculi coming to rescue him were slim.

And there was no way he was digging through piles of shit and whatever unknown substances there were inside the crap hole.

"Wonderful," Envy mumbled. His gaze fell to his side, where there was a stake sticking out of his theigh. It too, like the bars, was rusty. From its constant, slow moving, it had irritated the skin and the orouboros around it. Thin, red liquid - the homunculis' 'blood' - had dried and now coated most of the stake. The Sin placed a hand gently on the stake that was sticking out, and gave a soft tug. He regreted it instantly as he let out a quiet whimper.

Silently, he pulled his hand away. Flakes from the stake followed his movement, and gathered randomly on his hand. His perfect lips frowned. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but it wasn't something that Envy would openly admit to anyone. Especially the eldest Elric.

instead, violet eyes closed, and he focused on pushing out the last of the spikes in his back. The pain of getting it out was a pinch compared to the one in his orouboros, though the pain was still there. The sound wasn't so great either; the squishing and tearing of skin as it slowly pulled free.

He let out a sigh of contentment as he heard the loud ping noise as the heavy object landed on the concrete floor next to him. Though, even with the last stake out of his back, he was not able to fully move. Actions such as walking was still not available, neither was his super strength and shape-shifting abilities.

His arms and back were still sore, but that was expected. He had not moved from this spot since he was brought here. Envy soon found himself worn out. It took a great deal of energy - energy that had been cut to barely any with the stake lodged into his orouboros - to push out the thick spike that was hammered into his third node on his back.

Once more, violet eyes closed. This time, they lowered because of exhaustion, and not of concentration.

In the darkness outside of Edward's and Envy's cells, a pair of glowing red eyes opened as soon as the Sin's had shut. It was the same large creature that had knocked the homunculus unconscious a few days prior. Next to it, stood Greta.

With only a small nod, she gave the creature the command to proceed with the plan.

Immediately a dark grin spead across the monster's face as it closed in on the resting, unsuspecting experaments.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I do now own FMA, sadly. Otherwise there would be /subtext/ (-giggles-)

**A/N: **Things get interesting from now on.

(Beta-ed by Sin of Regret)

* * *

Edward awoke feeling very groggy. So much so, that his eyes were too weak to open. With a groan, he lifted his hand to his eyes to rub the sleep out of them, but quickly found that he was unable to.

Something cold and heavy - metal? - was holding down both his flesh arm, and his mechanical one. When he tried to move his legs, he found that they were in the same predicament. A breathing mask was strapped around his mouth that fed him Novocaine. His instincts told him - screamed at him - to panic, but the works of the drugs refused to let him do so.

Suddenly, a bright light was turned on above him, blinding the alchemist for seconds. When he could see, small purple and green dots clouded his vision. He watched silently through half-lidded eyes as three people walked into the room.

The trio were clad in surgeon wear, from their head - where there were caps over their heads and a mask over their lips- to their feet. They mumbled words Edward could not understand - whether it was from the high he was on, or that they were speaking another language.

The shortest one, and the only female, was holding on tightly to a metal push cart. On it, the teenager could see all sorts of surgery tools, along with a few towels and strange items he had never seen before. Edward did not feel frightened, nor worried. The drugs were doing their job to the fullest.

In his daze, golden eyes wondered around. This room was much cleaner than the one he and Envy had been kept in. The walls were a light blue, and there was a large window - much like the ones in interrogation rooms - on the right wall. On the other side of the room was a door that led out of the room, and another table much like the one Edward was on.

Loud voices and noises could be heard through the walls, and even the three around Edward turned to see what all the hubbub was about.

Even with his clouded mind, the teenager was able to recognize the thrashing figure as Envy.

The Sin was in a room much like Edward's. Though, he had a few more scientists around him than the alchemist did, as well as two large men similar to those that were with Greta the first time he had seen her.

"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF ME!"

Envy's raspy voice was clear through the tinted glass as the big men tried to get the homunculus back into the metal cuffs. Though, the Sin proved to still be stubborn even after they drugged him, and managed to knock down a cart, as well as one of the scientists that was foolish enough to get close to the pissed off Sin. The one that had fallen quickly rose and left to get more help.

"LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF ME SO I CAN RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

Edward wanted to chuckle, but with his high it came out a mellow grin. Turning his attention back to the scientists, he noticed that one of them was missing. He opened his mouth to ask, but was cut off by the shorter man.

"Isabella will begin the experiment when you are ready, sir."

The taller man nodded his head slowly. As he picked up the scalpel, the door to the left opened.

The woman from before was now dragging in a cage. It was small, rusty, and Edward could hear whimpers and scratches from whatever was in there. In his mellowed state, he still felt bad for the creature and cooed softly to himself.

The cage was moved to a shiny table that was much like the one Edward was strapped to. Under it, he noticed a decorated pattern. It was a fairly large transmutation circle, one he had seen before...but he could not remember where exactly. Strange markings and letterings made up a good portion of the circle, and it was drawn in some kind of red paint.

While he was distracted, the scientist with the scalpel managed to prick Edward's flesh arm with the sharp object. No later, the man started to drag the knife five inches down and deep into his tanned skin.

Ed didn't notice what the man was doing until he felt the warm liquid flowing freely from the cut. Gold eyes widened, but he still found himself to be eerily calm.

'_This isn't right..._' his conscience told him, struggling to wake up the rest of the teenager's body and mind. '_We have to get out of here! What are you lying around for?! They're going to-!_'

His thoughts were cut off as another body entered the room. This one was of a girl no older than himself. She was cloaked from head to toe, and the only part of her body visible was that frin her nose to her chin, and her hands.

The girl moved quietly and swiftly over to the caged animal. Ed watched as she put a hand between the bars and petted the creature with a saddened smile. With a few comforting words to it, she moved away and over to Edward.

She stared down at him, while he stared up at her.

Her lips were a straight line, and her body was stiff. There was an unpleasant aura surrounding her that sent chills down his neck. Without a word, she reached over him, and brushed her hand across his fresh wound.

The girl moved away quickly soon after, her hand covered in his dark blood - though she didn't appear to be grossed out by it. It was as if she had done this many times before.

She bent down and started to draw a transmutation circle around Edward's table. He could not see it, but a part of him could tell that it was similar to the one under the other table.

When she finished, she stood back up and walked over in between both of the metal tables. Much like Edward, she raised both of her hands, and it was only then that he noticed that both of her hands were covered with blood.

On one was his own, and the other must have been from the creature in the cage.

After she clapped her hands, everything seemed to travel in slow motion.

First, out of the corner of his eyes, he could see a bright light from the room next door - Envy's. He could hear the homunculus's screams of pain. Mixed with the Sin's cries were one of an animal. Ed had heard its cry before, but was not able to recognize it in the seconds that passed before the experiment began.

Second, his brain suddenly registered what was going on as soon as a violent, bright light absorbed the three of them. He gasped violently, the drugs started to wear off as his panic knocked off the mask that fed the tinted air to him. The light wasn't like the normal lights present when he and Al did alchemy, but those of the worst kinds of alchemy.

The kind that Shou Tucker did to his family and dog...

Lastly, as the girl's hands met with both their transmutation circles, he felt a wave of pain on a magnitude he never thought could have existed.

He had _never_ felt anything as powerful in his entire life. The attachment of his automail was a pinch compared to the shocks that went through his body. As soon as the transmutation was activated, he felt like he was being torn apart from the inside out.

His throat burned as h, too, yelled out in pain just as the creature nearby started to howl, feeling no doubt the same burning sensation Edward was feeling.

The nerves attached to his automail parts felt as if they were melting away, and he could no longer feel them. His limbs were numb, and for all he knew, they could have really been torn apart.

The torture seemed to go on for hours, but Edward could not remain conscious for that long. His wound - now one amongst many - had still been bleeding freely, and the amount of blood he had lost was finally taking its toll.

His eyesight began to blur, as did his thoughts.

Memories he had lived through - both the good, bad, and the frightening - sped through his mind at top speed. However, just as fast as they appeared, they faded away, wiped clear from his brain.

The last vision his watery eyes caught was that of the female alchemist - the hood of her cloak down - panting heavily and staring up at him with a guilty expression.


End file.
